PE-76: Adjective + Preposition, Verb + Preposition
The fixed partners you simply have to know — good at, depend on, listen to — plus the verbs that need no preposition at all, where Uzbek expects one.
PE-76: Adjective + Preposition, Verb + Preposition
Why good at maths but interested in maths? Why do you listen to music but discuss a problem with no preposition at all? There is no logic to find — these are fixed partners, and the only way is to learn the pair as one unit. The good news: there are not many, and they repeat constantly.
In this lesson you will learn
- The essential adjective + preposition pairs
- The essential verb + preposition pairs
- The verbs that take no preposition — a classic Uzbek-speaker trap
- Why a verb after these prepositions must take -ing
1. Adjective + preposition
| Preposition | Adjectives | Example |
|---|---|---|
| at | good, bad, brilliant, terrible | She's good at maths. |
| in | interested | I'm interested in history. |
| of | afraid, proud, full, tired, aware | He's afraid of dogs. |
| about | worried, excited, sorry, angry | I'm worried about the exam. |
| for | famous, late, ready, sorry | Bukhara is famous for its mosques. |
| to | similar, married, kind, rude | She's married to a doctor. |
| from | different, absent | Mine is different from yours. |
| with | pleased, satisfied, bored | I'm pleased with my mark. |
Afsona is good at languages and interested in Korean, but she's worried about the exam.
Afsona tillarni yaxshi biladi va koreys tiliga qiziqadi, lekin imtihondan xavotirda.
2. Verb + preposition
| Preposition | Verbs | Example |
|---|---|---|
| to | listen, belong, happen, talk, reply | Listen to me! |
| for | wait, look (= search), ask, pay, apologise | I'm waiting for the bus. |
| on | depend, rely, concentrate, spend | It depends on the weather. |
| at | look, laugh, shout, arrive (small places) | Don't laugh at him. |
| about | think, worry, complain, talk, dream | I'm thinking about you. |
| with | agree, argue, help, share | I agree with you. |
| in | believe, succeed, arrive (cities) | Do you believe in luck? |
| from | borrow, suffer, escape, differ | I borrowed it from Jasur. |
3. The verbs that need NO preposition
Here is the trap that catches Uzbek speakers most often. Because Uzbek adds a case ending (...ni, ...ga, ...da), it feels natural to add a preposition in English too. These verbs take a direct object with nothing in front of it.
✗ Wrong — no preposition needed
discuss about the problementer into the roommarry with himphone to me·answer to the questionreach to the station·tell to me
✓ Right
- discuss the problem
- enter the room
- marry him
- phone me · answer the question
- reach the station · tell me
We discussed the plan and then entered the hall. Please answer my question and tell me the truth.
Rejani muhokama qildik, keyin zalga kirdik. Savolimga javob bering va menga haqiqatni aytingi.
4. arrive at, arrive in — and a method for learning
One pair deserves its own note. Arrive never takes to: it takes at for small places and in for cities and countries.
We arrived at the station at six and arrived in Samarkand an hour later.
Soat oltida vokzalga yetib keldik va bir soatdan keyin Samarqandga yetib bordik.
Never arrive to. But note: get to and
go to ✓ — different verbs, different partners.
And here is the method that actually works for all of these pairs:
- Never write the word alone in your vocabulary notebook. Write good at, depend on — the preposition is part of the word.
- Group by preposition, not by verb. Say the on family aloud: depend on, rely on, concentrate on, spend on.
- Learn the no-preposition list separately — it is short, and it is where Uzbek speakers lose the most marks.
- Use each one in a sentence about yourself the same day.
5. After these prepositions, use -ing
Remember the unbreakable rule from PE-64: a verb straight after any preposition takes -ing. That applies to every pair in this lesson.
She's good at drawing. — I'm tired of waiting. — Thank you for helping. — He apologised for being late.
U rasm chizishda zoʻr. — Kutishdan charchadim. — Yordam berganingiz uchun rahmat. — U kechikkani uchun kechirim soʻradi.
6. Common mistakes
We discussed about the homework.
We discussed the homework.
My sister is married with a teacher.
My sister is married to a teacher.
I'm listening music.
I'm listening to music.
He's good in football.
He's good at football.
I'm interested to learn Korean.
I'm interested in learning Korean.
Practice
1 Fill in: Sherbek is afraid ? spiders but proud ? his brother.
Show answer
of … of. Both afraid and proud take of.
2 Correct it: Let's discuss about our plans and then phone to Afsona.
Show answer
Let's discuss our plans and then phone Afsona.
Neither verb takes a preposition — this is the Uzbek case-ending habit showing through.
3 Fill in: It depends ? the weather, so don't rely ? me.
Show answer
on … on. Depend and rely share the same partner.
4 Complete: I'm not very good ? (cook), but I'm interested ? (learn).
Show answer
at cooking … in learning. Both prepositions force the -ing form.
5 Which is right? (a) Wait me! (b) Wait for me!
Show answer
(b) Wait for me! Wait always takes for before a person or thing.
Key words — Kalit soʻzlar
- Dependent prepositionbogʻliq predlog
- Fixed pairdoimiy juftlik
- To depend onbogʻliq boʻlmoq
- To rely onishonmoq, tayanmoq
- To apologise for...uchun kechirim soʻramoq
- Proud of...dan faxrlanadigan
- Similar to...ga oʻxshash
- Different from...dan farqli
- To discussmuhokama qilmoq
- Direct objectvositasiz toʻldiruvchi
🎯 Remember this
- These prepositions have no logic — learn the pair as one unit.
- Key pairs: good at, interested in, afraid of, worried about, married to.
- listen to, wait for, depend on, agree with, laugh at, belong to.
- No preposition: discuss, enter, marry, phone, answer, reach, tell.
- After any preposition, a verb takes -ing.